For the people who still use telephone calls that aren't VOIP, uMobile now offers 10 mins free per call.

They also offer an all you can eat data for just under ¥3000, which allows me to call in to a long webEx meeting via the app for all my conference calls, with higher quality voice than over the rubbishy old phone lines.

But you still need a visa to make a contract, don't you? I have a WiMaxWifi Router with no need for a visa (I only use tourist visas when I visitJapan), but, as far as I know, you can't get a contract with a Japanesephone number without a visa. Isn't that right?

I'm a little confused about your requirements.If you don't need voice calling, then the many data sims out there are the best value for tourists, which don't need a visa.

If you need to set up a contract, then yes, you will need identification and a Japanese address to send bills to, depending on provider. Some also do credit checks too if there is any discount handset involved.

If you are visiting from a country with a network provider with a roaming partner, check that out as you may find that it is included in your monthly fee for certain networks without any extra charge to you.

That's the problem! Japan seems to be the only country in the world whereyou can't get a SIM with a phone number without having the equivalent of agaijin card. You can get very temporary ones (designed for short-termvisitors), but the cost is crazy (about Y450/day plus calling charges).

I used to live here for a long time and suffered with Docomo and Softbank.Now waiting to get a new longer-term visa, and wondering what is thecheapest/best provider to go for.

Many thanks! However, this is another example of rip-off prices in Japan. Iwas in Bangkok last week and bought a 7 day voice (up to 100 baht freecalling) and unlimited data SIM card for around Yen 950. And in virtuallyevery other country in the world you can buy SIM cards in multiplelocations and charge them online or in convenience stores. The bigcompanies have a monopoly here (even the smaller ones have to piggyback onthe big company networks).

It's the law in Japan, that mobile number can only be sold to residents.Anyway, I highly recommend OCN. I use them for my wife's phone. Monthly fee is less than 2000 yen for a voice sim card and 3GB of data. The leftover data can also carried over to the next month, so you can have up to 6GB per month.You can also get additional SIM cards (voice or data only) to share the data plan. This is very useful if you have multiple devices. OCN also give a few hundreds yen discount if you use OCN Hikari as your home internet.